TURKISH PRESS REVIEW

TUESDAY JULY 23, 1996

Summary of the political and economic news in the Turkish press this morning

Naim Suleymanoglu made history yesterday by becoming the first
weightlifter ever to win three Olympic gold medals. To win,
Suleymanoglu had to fight one of the greatest duels in
weightlifting history against his Greek arch-rival Valerios
Leonides, in which no less than three world records fell.
Leonides, who lost to Suleymanoglu by the slimmest of margins at
last year's world championship, was left with the silver and the
consolation of having raised his own world clean-and-jerk record
by 2.5 kg to 187.5 kg. But Suleymanoglu rose to the challenge. He
matched Leonides' clean-and-jerk and in the process claimed back
the world record for the two-lift aggregate of snatch and
clean-and-jerk which Leonides had held for just one minute. The
new mark of 335.0 kg was five kg better than the record
Suleymanoglu set two years ago. /All papers/

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tansu Ciller phoned
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu a week ago and said:
"Our relations will continue as in the past", it is reported.
Ciller and Netanyahu voiced their determination for closer
relations between Turkey and Israel. Ciller pointed out the
importance Turkey attached to the continuance of the Middle East
peace process. Netanyahu also expressed his government's
determination over the continuance of the process. Ciller held a
similar phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister David
Levy. /Hurriyet/

It is reported that Syrian Prime Minister Muhammed El-Zabi said
that they were ready to cooperate to remedy relations between
Turkey and Syria. According to an IRNA news report in the Selam
newspaper yesterday, El-Zabi said in a statement the previous day
in Damascus that a convenient basis should be constituted to
strengthen relations between the two countries. Noting that views
of Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to improve relations
with Damascus were "very positive", El-Zabi said that Syria was
ready to ensure best-level relations with Turkey. /Cumhuriyet/

Supporters of an outlawed leftist organization attacked yesterday
the Turkish Embassy in Paris. Nobody was killed or wounded during
the attack that was organized to protest bad conditions in
Turkish jails. /Hurriyet/

To support the development of trade unions in the Central Asian
Turkish republics, the confederation of Turkish trade unions
Turk-Is will hold its annual meeting of the Council of Union
leaders scheduled for August 30-31, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Turk-Is General Education Secretary, Salih Koc, noted that the
Turkish confederation was in close contact with the Turkish
republics and added that their aim was to share Turk-Is trade
union experience with trade unionists in Central Asia. /Sabah/

Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan met yesterday Iraqi Ambassador
Tikriti in his Welfare Party headquarters. During the meeting,
Erbakan assured Tikriti that Turkey was not supporting the
establishment of a Provide Comfort-controlled Kurdish state in
Northern Iraq and noted that the US, UK and France Provide
Comfort partners have agreed to release a joint declaration
stating that "a Kurdish state will not be established in Northern
Iraq". /Sabah/

Turkey noted that during the US brokered visit to the region in
order to solve the Cyprus issue, "small but positive" steps had
been taken. Sermet Atacan from the Information Department of the
Foreign Ministry added that the visit of the US Ambassador to the
United Nations, Madeline Albright and US President Bill Clinton's
special envoy to Cyprus, Richard Beattie, to the island and
Ankara would bear positive results. /Cumhuriyet/

The 57th destination of Turkish Airlines (THY), reported to be
among the fastest growing airlines of Europe, will be to Tbilisi.
The General-Directorate of THY, Atilla Celebi said that flights
to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi would start on August 5,
1996. /Hurriyet/

In a statement from the Iranian Embassy says that the Islamic
Republic of Iran has given considerable support to solving
Turkey's security problems.

The statement reports that the Turkish Republic deals with
security problems in its Southeastern region, and added that as
mentioned by senior Turkish officials, Iran had given extended
support for Turkey's efforts to bring an end to regional
security problems.

The statement also said that Iran prevented border infiltration
across their common borders, carried out operations against
dissidents opposed to the Turkish Republic and that Iranian
forces had recently captured thirty terrorists. /Milliyet/